We zipped over to Dublin with our good friends Nicola and Neil for a whistlestop New Year's Eve city tour. Well, I say 'tour' ... but it ended up being more of a 2-day Guinness binging session what with any hour of any day being an acceptable drinking time over there.

We've been meaning to see a bit of Ireland for some time now what with living criminally close to it. This trip was never going to serve as a proper sampler of the country, but it gave us a good heads'up and I'm glad to report that we liked it.

We ventured out to see a little bit of the city in the biting cold, but our minds were distracted by the black stuff. Pub-wise (from the few we saw) top marks go to 'Café en Seine' which was the venue in which we spent the New Year's Eve-ning. Very sophisticated decor and we got a result on the entrance fee which was waived by the manager since we were the first four on the door (arriving only 10 minutes early) ... saved us 80 euros and free champers was thrown in as well.

Let's get straight to the crux of the issue ... the Guinness ... it tasted great and creamier than I've ever tasted it (was that psychological or do they save the cream of the crop for the local guzzlers??). As you'll see below, a pint of Guinness looks so damn good in any situation, I was like the paparazzi snapping it up in different poses.